


Mustang

by Born In Captivity- Ineligible to Release (Jashasedai)



Series: Alternate Universe - Tame Racing Drivers [5]
Category: IndyCar RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Tame Racing Drivers, Doubles of Every Character, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 17:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12194130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jashasedai/pseuds/Born%20In%20Captivity-%20Ineligible%20to%20Release
Summary: In an AU where a secret species is used as Racing Drivers, keeping the secret is paramount, but before the internet made privacy virtually impossible, a Racing Driver could sometimes be out in public.The greatest road in the world, the best road trip car, two men and their Racing Drivers- What could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the Tame Racing Drivers AU. Read the series summary.
> 
> Who Is AJ Foyt? https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00014199.html
> 
> Who is Rick Mears?  
> http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/Hall-of-Fame-Members/Bio.aspx?q=Rick%20Mears

**Mustang- 1992**   
**Chapter 1**

  
The Mustang parked in front of the Route 50 sign was blue, scooped, flared and convertible, the perfect car to take the perfect trip down the greatest road in the world. AJ raised the camera and snapped a picture. Just the car and the sign and the cloudless blue sky.

He turned as Rick walked out of the gas station. His arms were full of chip bags and Slim Jims. He was trailed by two Racing Drivers in casual clothes carrying pop bottles and more snacks. AJ wouldn't have known they were Racing Drivers if he hadn't just picked them up from the stable. Rick and Rocket looked like twins, 41 with dark fluffy hair and dark eyes, the same slim build and the same walk.

Tex walked a bit farther away. He and AJ weren't as identical anymore as they used to be. Racing Drivers didn't put on weight as easily as humans once the big Five-Oh hit, and AJ had to work hard, and Tex had to increase his food intake to keep them looking the same, now that they were in their middle 50's.

AJ swung into the passenger seat. Rick and Rocket got in the back and Tex climbed into the driver's seat.

[Play this,] Rick gestured. He handed AJ a cassette. The car had a cassette stereo installed sometime in the last several years. The first electric guitar strains of The Doobie Brothers~Rockin' Down the Highway poured out of the speakers.

Tex chuckled. He pulled out of the parking lot, following AJ's gestured directions without looking.

[Out of the stable, onto the road,] Rocket gestured. He pushed his sunglasses up his nose.

They drove out of Cincinnati to the Doobie Brothers.

A few hours outside the city, AJ directed Tex to pull up next to the pumps of a little Texaco station. [Time for gas,] he gestured, getting out of the passenger side.

Rick climbed over Rocket and went around the back of the service station to the men's room.

Both Racing Drivers watched the near garage with patient expressions. No one came out of it to help them.

AJ shook his head with a smile and started the pump, then walked around to wash the bugs off the windshield.

The Racing Drivers gave up on the near garage and turned hopefully towards the farther garage. The doors weren't open. They turned back to the open garage.

AJ put the nozzle back on the pump and tapped Tex. [You two hit the head if you need to, this is the last stop for awhile.]

[Gas?] Tex asked.

[It's done, partner. The pit crew here is so fast you never even noticed them.]

Rocket's mouth dropped open a little and he looked back at the garage.

Tex knew AJ better and narrowed his eyes. [You did it yourself, didn't you?]

AJ just smiled.

Rick came back with cold Cokes for all of them. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. "Gonna be a hot one."

The two Drivers went around the side of the service station as well.

"Think they'll be alright?" Rick asked, handing AJ his Coke bottle.

This wasn't a question about their ability to navigate the horrors of roadside restrooms. AJ nodded. "We'll drive as long as they can take it. Nowhere on the west coast where we can't get to Utah Flats in a day's' driving. How's Rocket doing?"

"He hurts, but he's been hurting for months. It's a matter of degree, now. Is Tex..."

"He won't really start showing symptoms until a day or two before. When he starts coughing, we'll go." He let himself off the car, "I'd better stop, too. Got to make good time across Kansas." He grinned back at Rick over his shoulder.

Rocket was standing outside the bathroom staring across the vacant field to the bushes along the edge of the river.

Tex came out of the men's room. Rocket went in. [Look at those birds sitting on the water.]

AJ watched the ducks with him for awhile.

He took his turn in the men's room. When he came out Rocket and Tex were across the field pointing at the ducks. 'Come on back, guys.'

They raced across the field. Tex was older, but Rocket ached. They clambered over the fence and up the slight rise to the gas station at about the same time. Tex slowed his step and let Rocket have the lead. AJ waved his hat for Rocket. They all came back around the corner. Rick had pulled the car to the side of the building.

They had lunch off the side of the road at Carlyle lake, above the dam. Rick handed out tupperware cups of salad to everyone. After they ate, both Racing Drivers went and sat perfectly still at the water's edge, watching the ducks.

They stayed the night in Rosebud Missouri.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

  
The next day, outside Sedalia, they came up behind a trailer with a sprint car on it. AJ and Rick exchanged glances, over the excited pointing of the Racing Drivers. Tex had to be restrained from standing up for a better look. It pulled off at a sign marked Missouri State Fair Speedway. Rick turned to continue following it.

They pulled into the speedway it was midweek practice for 7 or 8 sprint cars, and the few dozen men standing around them all looked up when the Mustang pulled into the dusty parking lot. A big, older man with an excellent beard approached them with a short, round, bow legged man beside him. Rocket and Tex were wearing hats and sunglasses and watching with mild interest. Rick and AJ had their faces well covered as well.

Rick got out, as the less recognisable racer he would have the best chance of scouting the situation without causing a stir. He went and shook the men's hands. And spoke to them for awhile. There were ways, at smaller events, to find out if anyone at the event was Double Oh Certified.

The older man turned to the crowd and called. Two women in jeans and plaid shirts, with their hair tucked under their caps came forward. One was a bit younger, maybe in her middle twenties, the other in her early thirties. They shook hands with Rick, and listened attentively. He pointed back at the Mustang. AJ raised his hand and Tex and Rocket waved hugely. One of the women laughed, putting her hands on her knees. It was the older one. She patted her friend, who was also chuckling.

The older man went to the crowd and raised his hands for attention. Rick came over to the Mustang with the women trailing him. "AJ, This is Annie and Francie, they're agents."

"AJ?!" Francie exclaimed, "AJ Foyt?" She held her hand out to him. He shook it over the edge of the door as he got out. "Francie Cain. My boyfriend Jeremy loves you."

Annie smirked at her friend. "Annie Neal, it's nice to meet you. What are your friends' names?"

AJ let Tex and Rocket out of the car. "This is Tex, and this is Rocket."

Francie gestured, stiffly, [Hello.]

Annie watched her friend sign and then copied the motion, [Hello.]

She turned back to AJ. "The guys around here are used to seeing Racing Drivers. There are quite a few of them in the series. What are you guys up to? Need to give them a workout? My guy Brent can let you guys use his ride."

Brent didn't look like HE thought this would be a great idea, until he understood just WHO was going to be borrowing his ride. He leaned on the passenger side door frame. "Please be careful," he asked Tex as he strapped in and started the sprint car.

He ran laps efficiently, pushing his lap times gently, but being very easy on the car. After he'd burned through his need to drive, he pulled over and hopped out.

[That was good, nice and tight. Feel alright? How was the acceleration on the straight? Did you feel good about it?] AJ asked, running through the standard after-lap questions. He turned around as Rick and Rocket scooted to the car to get Rocket ready.

The crowd of men was staring, silently. Annie looked over the manager's shoulder at the stopwatch. "That's a little better than the lap record you've got posted in the office, isn't it?" She asked.

"He knocked .8 of a second off the lap record." The manager said, barely above a breath.

AJ clapped Tex on the shoulder [Broke another record, buddy.] Tex blushed and smiled. He waved off his match's praise.

"That's what a multiple world Champ can do," Francie said.

"Isn't he a cross class Champ, too?" Annie asked.

AJ nodded "Stock, Open Wheel, and Endurance."

Rick waved Rocket to go. "Let's see how long you hold that record, AJ," he called.

After his laps were tallied, Rocket had knocked another .2 off Tex's record.

"He's having a good day today." AJ commented. "Very pure shifts."

Rick nodded.

"Would you show me how you did that?" Brent asked Tex.

He looked to AJ for the translation and then nodded at Brent.

The drivers all crowded around and started asking questions. Rick and AJ spent a couple hours translating while the guys gave tips and instructions.

"So where are you four heading? This a pretty unusual way to get them around. All of you driving around in a ragtop." Annie asked. The girls and AJ were sitting on a fence, watching Rick, Rocket, and Tex listen to the locals tell stories of their triumphs, the pros all big eyes and fascinated reactions.

AJ frowned at the ground. "It's a retirement trip. One last hurrah."

Annie smiled. "Oh you're retiring? Rick too?"

Francie's hand tightened on her friend's arm. She shook her head. AJ frowned more deeply.

"Yes," He said.

He crossed his arms. The sky was turning pink in the distance. "Rocket has Rexford's Syndrome. It's a degenerative nerve disease that hits Racing Drivers, usually when they're older than he is. It's recently reached it's end stage."

He was below them, on the track, holding Rick's hand and laughing at the joke one of the men had told.

"That's awful," Annie breathed. "Is...is Tex sick, too?"

Francine pinched her, hard, on the tender skin at the back of her elbow. Annie winced, but then just glared at her friend.

"Yeah," AJ gritted his teeth, "He's got a terminal case of too-old-to-sell-tickets.'

Annie opened her mouth. Then she closed her mouth and looked into the distance, but slowly, her hand closed over AJ's hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

  
Of the cassette tapes they had brought, AJ was enjoying Mixtape 3, heavy with Creedence Clearwater Revival songs. He and Tex were working their way through translating the lyrics to Molina. It had been easy to paraphrase the term mayor to lead stallion, but AJ was having a problem getting the idea of a Sheriff across. He watched the road out the passenger seat window.

'What is a prowl car?' Another difficult question, maybe if AJ could figure out how to explain a Sheriff.

He turned to gesture a question to Tex, when Rocket's hand shot between AJ's shoulder and Rick's and tapped Rick sharply.

Rick swerved into the oncoming lane with a yell. "What!?" He wrenched the vehicle back into their lane.

[Look!] Rocket gestured. He pointed at a big painted billboard with a picture of some drab coloured primitive brick buildings under a rocky overhang. The wording read "Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings." [I want to GO there. We should go there! Please, Rick?]

Tex looked at the sign and revved in excitement. [I want to go there, too! Let's go there!]

Rick looked at AJ, who shrugged. "Why not? It's only a little way out of the way," He consulted the map, "We can take 115 right back down to 50."

Around 2 hours later, slowed down by traffic outside Colorado Springs, they pulled into the parking lot of the museum. They paid to get in, all heavily dressed in hats and mirrored aviators. Rocket and Tex both had good growths of beard, now, and were hard to recognize as looking nearly identical to Rick and AJ. They walked through the museum, looking at the exhibits, but Rocket and Tex were beside themselves with excitement to see the city built into the cliff.

They went outside to see it and as they went through the structure, the Racing Drivers grew confused. Rocket tapped Rick. [This isn't real,] he told him.

[It was rebuilt from what used to be here,] Rick explained.

[It's not RIGHT,] Rocket insisted. He started wringing his hands.

[Not right, how?] Rick asked.

[Not right,] was all Rocket could say, [Not like it should be.]

"Excuse me?" A woman with a scarf over her hair and some large sunglasses of her own tugged on AJ's sleeve. "If your deaf friend wants to see some really impressive cliff dwellings, my husband and I went to see the ones at Mesa Verde National Park, they were much larger. They aren't too far from here."

"Mesa Verde National Park? Where is that?" AJ asked.

"They are south of here, by Durango."

"Are they authentic? He says these don't seem real."

Tex tapped Rocket and asked Rick to translate what the woman was saying. He stopped arguing with Rocket and listened.

"Oh they are very authentic. Some of them are ruins, but in the Spruce Tree Overhang, you feel like you were really there. You can just imagine those ancient people coming back along the trail like they'd only gone away." She smiled.

[That sounds much better,] Tex said.

[People really lived there?] Rocket asked.

"Oh yes, thousands of years ago."

[We should go there.]

Tex agreed.

They got back on the road, driving down 115 until they reached 50 again and following it west until they reached a road that would take them south towards Durango. The longer they were in the car, the more antsy the two Racing Drivers got. Soon, neither of them could concentrate on anything for more than a moment, and they were getting on Rick's nerves.

He pulled over in Durango for gas, and to stretch his legs.

To give him some time to himself, AJ taught Rocket how to fuel the car. This resulted in an argument between the two Racing Drivers. Tex was convinced that if Rocket fueled the car, he would leave the load light so Rick would make better time. AJ tried to explain that a light fuel load was in no way giving Rocket an advantage over Tex, but in the end, Tex supervised to make sure Rocket filled the tank totally.

That seemed to satisfy everyone.

"Now what on earth are you doing here?" Called a woman's voice.

AJ turned around. The Racing Drivers followed where he looked.

A smoke grey Mercedes convertible pulled up behind them. "Hello!" Annie waved at them over the windshield. [Hello!]

[Hello, Annie,] the Racing Drivers gestured in unison.

"I didn't expect to see you again. What are you doing so far from Route 50?" She got out of the car and came over to the side of the Mustang. Tex unfolded his arms from the windowsill of the car so she could lean on it.

"We are going to visit the cliff dwellings. What are you doing here? Where is Francie?" AJ told her.

Rocket was grinning up at her from the backseat. He'd tried to talk to her the day they'd seen her at the speedway, but her gesturing was not up to it.

"She had to fly back to London. Where is Rick?" She waved a little at Rocket.

"He needed a break, he went for a walk." AJ pointed at the two Racing Drivers and made his hand into a talking mouth. It was not a gesture, and neither of them understood what he was indicating.

"I didn't expect you boys to be going to tourist attractions." She nodded acknowledgement.

"The boys saw the billboard and we just had to come."

Tex tapped AJ's arm and gestured. [She could come with us! She will like it.]

AJ stared at the face he saw in the mirror every day, looking back at him, eyebrows raised, mouth open, smiling hugely. [There's no room in the car.]

He got even more excited at this. [Look, look! She's got her own car.] He pointed at it.

Rocket turned around and examined it soberly. He nodded. He turned back to AJ, [It's a good car.]

"Annie, we're going to the Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde. Do you want to go along? You could follow us. If you'd like, Rocket and I could even ride with you." Rick told her as he came back from the gas station. He'd seen her through the window and brought her a cold Coke as well.

The girl flicked her blonde hair and smiled at him. "Yeah, that sounds like good fun." She waved at Rocket, "Come on Rocket."

He laughed and pushed Tex out of the way to jump over the side of the car. He started for the driver's side, and then paused. He held his hand out, opened the door, and gestured for Annie to get in.

Rick and AJ exchanged glances.

They pulled out of the gas station and headed down 160.

Tex had a look of consideration on his face for a long time while he mulled something over.

AJ had a pretty good idea what it was. He was driving with his left elbow on the window, left hand directing the lovely car over the soft curves, right hand holding his friend's hand, completing the circuit that made them one self.

Tex pulled his hand gently out of AJ's and gestured, [You and Rick looked at each other when Rocket let Annie drive.]

AJ answered as diplomatically as he could, [Rocket growled at you when you two switched spots at the track the other night.]

[She can drive her car if she likes.] A slow smile crossed his face. [You think he likes her?]

AJ just laughed.

When they pulled up to the park, the gate was closed. AJ groaned. Annie pulled up next to them and Rick rolled down his window.

Rocket looked like he was in serious distress, he was half climbing over Rick to lean out the front window. [AJ, we have to keep going. Please!]

Tex made a distressed noise back.

[We can't. We'll have to come back in the morning. The gate is closed. There is no way to get in. You know we can't go past locked gates.] AJ told him.

The Racing Drivers nodded, in their experience, locked gates were impassible.

"We'll drive back to Durango and stay the night there, then we'll come back in the morning."

When they left Annie at her hotel, Rocket seemed very depressed. They went to check into their own motel room, and Rocket went straight to the bed and laid down with his face to the wall.

"He's got it, bad, huh?" Rick said, looking at his shoulders moving in measured cadence. There was an If Only hanging in the silence, but he didn't voice it.

"They can't talk. It's just too strange." AJ shook his head.

"I translated for them." Rick said it quietly.

The older match turned and examined him. What was Rick thinking? He was setting them both up for hurting.

"She knows the deal. He knows the deal. It's not like he likes her like a mare, he just wants to be friends. He thinks she's interesting." Rick stared back at AJ, daring him to challenge this assertion.

Yet, there was Rocket, curled up facing the wall, hiding his sobs with controlled breathing. Tex was sitting on the bed beside him, now, stroking his back, making barely audible noises.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

  
The next morning the sun was hot and bright.

The drive from Durango to Mesa Verde was shorter in the mid-morning, than it had been the evening before.

They pulled up to the gate with the little guard shack. There was a small man in a National Forest Service uniform, about 15 years older than AJ, sitting on a little folding chair under a tree, beside a cooler. There evidently hadn't been much traffic. It was the end of the season, after all. When the Mustang pulled up, followed by the Mercedes, he stood up and walked over to them with a jaunty wave.

"Howdy, Mr Foyt," He said, calmly.

AJ's eyes went wide.

The man's name plate said "James Hoster."

He took a long look at Tex. He had a half a smile on his face. [Hello, Champion,] He gestured, in perfect, fluent, lifelong gestures.

Like an old match. AJ's chest relaxed. "You know who we are,"

James Hoster smiled, he was missing an eyetooth. "Oh yeah, my Rusty used to race dirt track out in Michigan, years ago, I stopped by here one day on the way through, on my way home and saw this place. Something made me think, Rusty would have liked it here. I got this job with the Forest Service. Feels like being close to him, you know." That little rueful smile AJ had seen on countless broken match's faces flickered across this man's. "I still follow all the races."

He waved at the next car back, "Howdy Mr Mears!" He called to Rick, "We'll have you right through!"

He leaned back on AJ's car door. "Now, look, we're supposed to be closed, but all the work they're doing is over by Long House. So I'm going to let you boys and your lady friend in. Here's what you're going to do. Head down this road. When you hit the fork for Wetherill, stay left, and right when you see the sign for the Spruce Tree House. Check that out, and Cliff Palace. Once you get to the parking lot at Balcony House, take a walk across the mesa, just head straight off the road. Out in the middle, there, you tell me what you think of that. You'll know it when you see it. Check out Spruce Tree House, and Cliff Palace, but don't miss Balcony House." He nodded. "I wish I could let you see Long House and Step House, but," He shook his head, "There's folk from the research center all over those sites. Anyway, what you are after is in the middle of that mesa."

"What do you mean, what we're after?" AJ asked.

James Hoster shook his head. "You'll see. You folks stay as long as you like." He stepped back away from the cars and waved them through.

"We haven't paid," AJ said, over the windshield.

The man shook his head and waved them through again.

AJ told Tex what the man had said, about having been a match, and about them looking for something on the mesa. Tex nodded. [I know.]

[How could you know that?]

Tex looked out at the landscape. [You saw a man. I saw half a Racing Driver.] He moved his hand towards AJ, and then hesitated. AJ turned his hand palm up. Tex took it.

They followed a trail down into Spruce Tree House. The cliff dwelling was an incredible thing. A large, rounded chunk of rock had fallen away from the cliff face at some point. Leaving a half dome under the overhanging cliff. There were squared-off stone buildings built in the space. The floor of the space had been uneven, and the houses were on foundations at various levels, reached by wooden ladders, but the actual walkways reminded AJ of European fortified castles. They were smooth paved, with stone parapets. It was a little city, built into the protective overhang.

[I need to sit down,] Rocket slumped against the parapet, staring up at the city before them.

Tex sat beside him, with his arm over the other Racing Driver's shoulders. The two put their heads together, obviously sending. There was something about this place.

Once Rocket had recovered from the overwhelming feeling of being here, they explored. The rooms were empty, but that woman had been right, AJ was expecting the people who lived here to come up the trail any moment.

And for some reason, he expected them to have voices like car engines, and wear bright colors.

By the time they hiked back up to the car, Rocket was clearly very sore. Annie asked him if he wanted to go, but he shook his head. [I want to stay here.]

They only stayed for a bit at Cliff Palace. The brochure they'd gotten said it appeared to have been used as an administrative site. Office buildings.

AJ followed the directions to the Balcony House parking lot. Tex was practically hanging out the window. When they stopped, he told the other 3 what the man had said.

"What did he mean, what we're looking for?" Rick asked, as they set out over the sand and sagebrush. They crossed the field in a sort of loose knot, AJ and Annie walking side by side, Rick and Rocket a few paces ahead, and Tex bringing up the rear. "There's nothing out here, we'd see anything bigger than a rabbit." He said, walking backwards as he spoke.

Then he nearly tripped into it.

A massive oval, cut into the turf. The smattering of sagebrush had been enough to hide it from the road. It was just a huge oval a bit lower than the rest of the ground, with nothing growing in it. Odd for a place that must have attracted runoff from any rain that happened to fall from the sky.

[This track has been badly cared for,] Tex said.

Rocket was just holding his hands over his mouth. He knelt down and touched the ground. He looked up at Tex and revved urgently.

Tex revved back. He knelt down and touched the ground, too. He looked back at AJ.

"It's a racetrack," Annie said, not fluent enough in gesture to have caught what Tex had said.

"That's ridiculous. Indians didn't have racetracks."

And yet. Here, in the middle of the desert, a racetrack had been cut into the ground.

[You said there is another city here?] Tex asked AJ.

[I want to go there.] Rocket stood up, letting the accumulated sand drain from his fingers.

[I do, too,] Tex said.

They walked down the trail into the canyon to the Balcony House cliff dwelling. Then they climbed a long staircase. At the top of this was a ladder. It was easily 3 stories high. They climbed this and arrived at a...hole in the wall. It was a tunnel a little bigger than a dog door. It was the only way through the 10 foot high wall protecting the place.

Rick bent down to look through it. "It's only about 10 feet deep. We'll have to crawl through."

AJ looked at him like he was crazy. "I'm not..."

But Tex was already shimmying through. It was narrow, and he had to turn his broad shoulders to get through comfortably, but he was rapidly passing through the tunnel. Rocket ducked in behind him, grunting uncomfortably as his aching limbs protested. He still made rapid progress, as did Annie, who was much younger than the rest of them and practically lolloped through.

Rick waved AJ in front of him. AJ had stood inside Tex's sleeping cupboard. It was not a comfortable experience for him, climbing into a tight space. When he emerged from the far side, though, both Rocket and Tex looked more relaxed, yet alert than he'd seen either Racing Driver in a long time. Racing Drivers felt at home in tight spaces.

Rocket and Tex drifted around the place, looking through doorways and making quiet noises. They had more or less forgotten the humans were there.

"It's getting very late. These guys need to eat." The Racing Drivers had eaten all the snacks they'd brought, and would start wilting, soon.

"I brought sandwiches!" Annie said, "I just remembered, and I brought a picnic blanket. I'll run and get them from the car."

"That's a long way back up the trail," Rick said. "I'll go with you." He waved at Rocket to follow him.

Rocket shook his head. [I want to stay here.]

"He can stay with Tex and I, I'm not going back down those steps again until I'm ready to stay down," AJ said with a grin.

Rick and Annie headed for the tunnel.

[I want to sit down for awhile,] He told the Racing Drivers.

He picked a wide spot on the wall and sat looking out at the other side of the canyon. Tex sat next to him with one arm around his waist. Rocket sat next to Tex, taking comfort from the older stallion. AJ watched him.

What could it be about this place that made them ache to be here so badly? He sent the question to Tex.

[This place feels like home. Safe. Familiar. I want to live here.]

[I will live here,] Rocket agreed.

When Rick and Annie came back, they ate sandwiches. Rocket fell asleep with his head pillowed on Rick's leg. The sunlight crept up the canyon wall and disappeared over the edge.

"It's going to get really dark down here, when the sun goes down. I don't want to crawl down that ladder in the dark," Rick said.

AJ didn't even want to think about it.

It took awhile to rouse Rocket, Racing Drivers didn't come to consciousness from their sleep very quickly. They packed their things down the city, through the tunnel, which seemed tighter now, somehow. While they were waiting their turn to descend the ladder, Rocket turned to Tex. [I want to stay here,] He said, like an appeal.

Tex nodded, putting an arm around the other Racing Driver's shoulders and resting his head on the smaller Driver's.

AJ saw Rocket repeat his appeal a few times, quietly, as they walked up the trail.

By the time they were back to the Mustang, the Racing Driver was dragging his feet. The light was falling. They had barely been able to see the last 100 yards up the trail.

"He's too tired to switch cars back and forth, we'll just ride back together. Annie, you drive first, we'll follow you," AJ directed. Rick and Tex helped the sleepy Racing Driver into the back seat. Rick was yawning, too, now. Tex got into the back with Rocket, pulling the younger Driver onto his chest and wedging himself into the corner of the seat to make him comfortable.

Rick and AJ hugged Annie and got into the front. Rick was obviously more affected by his Racing Driver's exhaustion than he had let on, because they hadn't gone half a mile before he responded to AJ's wondering if they should head back to Durango or west on 160, with a heavy snore. AJ kept the radio on quietly and followed Annie's taillights in the dark.

At some point, after they'd left the national park, on the curves through the little river valley, Annie outpaced them. Something was making AJ feel uncomfortable. He kept feeling like he needed to adjust his seat. After awhile, he looked up into the rearview at Tex, looking down at his friend's face, stroking his hair.

He looked up and AJ saw his eyes shining and his adam's apple jump. 'You need to pull over and wake Rick up.'

A little metal band cinched tight around his heart. 'What?'

'He wanted to stay. He didn't come with us.' Tex and Rocket had been close friends since Rocket's rookie year. Now he held his friend in his arms, and sang in soft sending that would never be heard.

AJ pulled over at a wide spot in the road. He looked at Rick, sleeping with his face pillowed on one hand. He jerked awake, "Why'd we stop moving?" His eyes went wide as what was missing became immediately apparent. He spun to the backseat. He scrambled half over the back seat. "Rocket! Hey, wake up, buddy!" He slapped the still face lightly. "Come on back, Rocket. I need to tell you goodbye. Come on."

He looked up at Tex, back at AJ, and back at Rocket.

"Nah, nah, Come on, don't go without telling me goodbye. I want to hear you say you love me one more time. I...want to tell you...I love you. Rocket, Rocket, I love you, you're me and I love you."

AJ put his hand on Rick's shoulder. "We're going to give you some time with him." He let Tex out of the back seat, and Rick took Tex's place cradling Rocket. The other two went and stood some distance away, facing away from the road. Hopefully if there were any passersby, they would assume they were stopping for a slash, not in some kind of trouble.

This was where this sort of thing got difficult.

They couldn't just drive around like this. They couldn't call a hospital, they would notice immediately that Rocket wasn't Rick's twin or whatever thin cover they could come up with. He didn't have an identity, no paperwork, nothing. They would have to call a stable, to send someone to come pick him up. AJ had actually had this explained to him, when he agreed to be responsible for both of the Racing Drivers on this trip.

Headlights appeared around the bend, heading in the opposite direction. [Annie is coming back,] Tex told him. [Sounds like her car.]

She pulled up. "I lost you guys. Did the car break down?"

AJ shook his head. "Rocket..."

She nodded her understanding immediately. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need to borrow your car and find a phone. Can you stay here with him? You're Double Oh Certified, if anyone stops, you can handle it."

Tex was whimpering and snuffling.

Annie stood up straight. "Of course."

He gave her the keys in case anything happened and he and Tex got into the Mercedes. They drove up to the first house and Tex waited in the car while AJ went in. He impolitely insinuated, to the nice family that allowed him to come in and use their phone that this was a private phone call and he made them all leave their kitchen. It was rude, but this was pretty urgent and none of them would be happy if he brought FIA's anger down on them. The closest stable was either the one in Nevada, or the one in Nebraska. He called both. Central, in Nebraska, could get someone in a truck and headed out to them faster. If they met them halfway, this would only be a 5 hour ordeal, instead of 10 or 12.

They went back to the car. Rick was out of the back seat. There was a blanket over Rocket. AJ wished he hadn't noticed it was the picnic blanket. Rick and Annie were sitting in uncomfortable silence on the hood of the car.

"We're driving north. Central is sending someone out for him."

Rick closed his eyes and pinched his lips, shook his head.

"Would you like to ride with me, instead?" Annie asked.

He looked behind him for a moment. "He's not...there anymore. He's with me, now. I don't need to be with, what he was." He nodded. "I'll come with you. AJ, are you okay riding with him alone?"

"Yeah, Rick, you go in the Merc."

They drove north to Denver, to the address AJ had been given. There was a panel van and two men there.

AJ and Rick lifted Rocket out of the back seat and onto the stretcher the men had brought. "Rick, don't watch this part," AJ told him, harshly.

He turned away.

AJ stopped the man who stepped forward with the battery operated hair clippers. "I'm a Trainer. I'll do it." The handler gave him the clippers. AJ smiled down barely able to keep himself from making hushing noises to soothe the Racing Driver under his hands, and gently turned Rocket's head to the side. Behind his right ear, AJ shaved a patch of hair off.

Until the whole barcode was visible.

The handler matched the number to the number on his paperwork.

Then they took him away. They made AJ and Rick both sign that they'd handed him over to the handlers. Tex was in the car. He had already seen that Rocket got what a Racing Driver would consider a proper send off.

"I want to go to sleep," Rick said.

They both nodded.

Neither of them looked askance when Annie got into the Mustang with them. "I have a friend who has a cottage in Vail. It's not so far."

Rick fell asleep against the window again, almost as soon as they started driving.

"What about your car?" AJ finally asked when they'd been driving awhile.

"I'll come back for it, later. This is important." She was firm and he didn't challenge her.

The sun was coming up behind them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

  
The house in Vail was on the edge of the forest wilderness. It was small, more of a cabin, with 4 small bedrooms off a hallway that lead to a main living room and kitchen area the size of the kitchen at AJ’s house.

Rick went into one of the bedrooms as soon as they arrived, and when AJ woke, 6 hours later, when Tex got up and noisily made his way out to the living room, there was no sound from Rick’s room. He went to the bathroom and went back to sleep.

When he woke up again 4 hours later, Tex was watching NASCAR, and Annie was reading a book on the balcony and Rick still hadn’t woken up.

Tex was yelling at his friend, Intimidator’s #3 car. [Don’t let him draft on you, you idiot!] He waved his hands, creating a hazard for anyone within range.

AJ went and sat on the lounge chair next to Annie’s. The shadows were dappling the balcony and the grounds beyond. She had been up longer than he had, but she was in a pair of soft pants, with her hair piled on her head in waves. She looked up at him, folding her book closed and making a tight lipped face. “What happened, AJ?”

He sighed. Rick had said she knew. “I told you, he was dying.”

She shook her head. “Why was he out here? This isn't the way the stables usually do things. It can’t be.”

He wondered what her history was, that she had gotten mired in this life. She was an agent, but that didn’t happen without the company’s express wish. Not that anyone would ever understand all the elements that affected what led the company to do what they did.

For him, it had been a pure accident of face. “When we’d been matched for about ten years, one of the Trainers who was doing a check up on him, he was already pretty good by then, said since it was OBVIOUS he was born to lead, he might get called to lead a stable one day, or at the very least, he could teach the young stallions to be the best. It seemed like an easy life, and like a way to help. So they signed us up as Trainers.”

She set the book to the side and said, “I’ll get you some coffee.”

She disappeared for a moment and reappeared with two cups of coffee. She handed him one and he took a drink absently.

“Trainers are the ones who make all the hard calls. Is a hurt driver too hurt to be worth trying surgery on? Is he producing heirs? Is he worth keeping on a team, or would a younger stallion bring more money. Well, we aren't the ultimate authority.” He grimaced. “There’s stable managers and company owners and the FIA itself. At the end of last season, they called me to tell me they weren’t going to be keeping Tex active, anymore, and since, apparently, his heirs aren’t performing quite like the early ones did, they weren’t going to put him to stud, either.” It hurt his throat to say it, even to think about what it meant.

She drew a slow, harsh breath. “But, he is a part of you.”

“That doesn’t signify for the profit line. They don’t live as long as we do, anyway.” His hands were folded in his lap. He had scars on his fingers from years of mechanic work on the cars Tex drove. He was a good enough mechanic he wasn’t relegated to changing tires like some of these young matches.

“So...why are you out here?” She looked down into her coffee and then blew lightly on it, and looked into it again.

“Ever since we were young, I told him about the speed tests out at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. An endless, limitless track. He thought it sounded like heaven.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tex gesturing directions to the Racing Drivers on the TV. “There’s these computers that are going to be able to share information, instantly, all over the world, soon. Even pictures.”

“The World Wide Web.” Annie nodded.

“So if someone takes a picture of Tex here right now, they could send the picture to China. Or if they take a picture of a Racing Driver at a stable, and someone takes a picture of his match in New York, they can send the pictures and prove they’re different. Or someone will be able to check my records and see I don’t HAVE a twin. Policy is changing. Soon they won’t be able to go anywhere. I wanted him to see the Salt Flats.” He smiled, nodding to himself of the rightness of Tex getting to go to the one place he most wanted to see, before the door closed forever. On Racing Drivers moving freely, and for Tex, on everything else as well.

“Where does Rick come into it?” There was a little expression on the very young woman’s face, and an inability to look at his eyes that AJ recognized.

“When I was making plans, I ran into Rick. Rocket...he’d been sick for a long time, and Tex and Rocket have been buddies, since Rocket started in Indycar. Rocket just got bad enough he can’t drive anymore. Rick told me they were gonna take care of him, there at the stable. I just, well, you met him, he deserved to feel the open air for once in his life. So we invited them along.”

Annie looked over AJ’s head. “Yes, he did deserve to feel the open air,” She said.

The door opened behind AJ. Rick came out, looking sleepy and mussed. “You know Tex is in there screaming at Pontiac Drivers who can’t see him? Does he know they can’t see him?”

AJ put a hand up. “I know. He’s always on the Pettys and...What’s Rusty’s named?” He snapped his fingers. He looked at Annie, “Rusty Wallace?” She shrugged. “I just can’t...He’s gonna getcha. CATCH, that’s it.”

Both of them were looking at him.

“Anyway, Tex is pretty sure Catch is a rally driver, and that King convinced him to drive Nascar so he’d have someone to play with. So he’s in there advising.”

Rick crossed his arms.

Annie laughed. “Intimidator isn’t enough of a challenge for King?” Dale Earnhardt's name was becoming almost as famous as Richard Petty. Or Mario Andretti. Or AJ Foyt.

AJ laughed. “There isn’t a Racer driving who’s enough of a challenge for King.” His eyes unfocused. “Not yet anyway,” He murmured.

The mention made a cloud cross Rick’s face.

There was an uncomfortable moment.

“You gonna keep with us?” AJ asked.

Rick was looking at something neither of them could see. A little twitch of his lips and his shoulder were the only indication he’d heard AJ speak. “I’ve got things I have to do. Things I need to see get done. Damn, is the sky blue out here or what?” He walked to the edge of the balcony and planted his hands on the railing, staring up at the sky. “It’s been so long since I’ve just stood and looked at the sky.”

He stood there, still, for a long time.

Annie and AJ silently slipped inside, leaving Rick to the peace of the balcony.

“Is he...happy?” It was pretty clear Annie was worried her assessment would be offensive, she was whispering and making a pleading face.

“I think it’s a weight off his shoulders. Rocket has been in pain for a long time, and if he’d gotten to Utah Flats, it wouldn’t have been a pretty death. This way. I don’t understand why he loved that place so much, but he was free, and Rick will always have that. Instead of saying goodbye in some exam room in the stable, underground away from the sun, Rocket went home and fell asleep.” The metal band around his heart was back. He could hear the television and Tex’s voice revving enthusiastically for some fantastic pass someone was making.

Tex started to laugh.

Then he started to cough.

The blood drained out of AJ’s face.

No.

The poison couldn’t be kicking in now.

Not the day after Rocket died.

His knees got weak and he sank against the wall.

“AJ!” Annie reached out to him. “What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t see past his tears. “We have to leave. We have to get to Utah. We have to get there before the poison takes him completely.”

“The poison?” Rick asked. He was standing in the open balcony door, hard faced. “It’s now?”

Annie looked back and forth between them. “What are you talking about? What poison?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

  
“They injected them with slow acting poison. When we left, to make sure we weren’t just running. The first symptom is coughing,” Rick said.

AJ was leaning, hands on his knees, fighting for control of his mind. He couldn’t let Tex feel this.

“Rocket wasn’t coughing.” Annie shook her head.

“Rocket was dying of his Rexford’s. That wasn’t the poison. He couldn’t bear to leave that place. He let go.” Rick rubbed his hand over AJ’s back.

“Utah.” AJ started getting ahold of himself. He took a deep breath.

“Alright. I’ll drive.” Rick said, intentionally chipper.

A match’s currency was their acting. AJ breathed a chuckle, to get himself into character. He stood up once he was confident he could keep Tex convinced he was alright.

He walked down the hallway into the living room.

Tex pointed at the TV, [This is ridiculous. Intimidator is embarrassing himself. Next time I race him, I will show him what he is doing wrong.]

[Yeah, you always did have him figured out. It is time to get back on the road, are you ready?] AJ sat down and patted him on the knee.

Tex looked down the hallway, [Is Rick alright? I am ready to leave, but he is still sad.]

[I know. We are all sad. Time to go, though. He will feel better on the road. We will all feel better.] He smiled.

[Okay. We will drive. That makes everything better.]

Tex and AJ road in the back. It was a squish for two men their size, but AJ was glad to be pressed against his best friend, watching the scenery out the window and singing along with the radio. Tex always loved to sing. They finally finished translating Molina, finally arriving at safety car as an analogy for a sheriff’s car.

They’d all gone to bed after Rocket’s tragedy after the sun had come up, and woken in the early afternoon. It was late night when they reached Bonneville. They checked into a hotel.

There was a wardrobe that would have been comfortable for Tex. AJ sat on the bed and stared at it. Tex came out of the bathroom in his pajamas. [Do you remember when we were just matched?] AJ asked.

[Of course.] Tex laughed, gritting his teeth as it trailed off into a little cough.

[Do you remember when we were in the motorhome at those early races and we’d stay up all night and talk?] He put his arm around Tex’s shoulders.

[Yes. It was wonderful. Hard to race the next day.]

[I want to talk for awhile before we go to sleep. Like we used to.]

Tex threw himself backwards on the bed with a laugh. Like a young teenager in the body of a man. His enthusiasm and delight with the world had never dimmed. His body hadn’t started to ache. He didn’t grunt like an old man when he got up from a chair. He spun on one knee and moved to his side, facing in. AJ laid down on his side, facing him. Tex grasped his hands between them.

‘I love this trip,’ He sent.

‘I do, too,’ AJ sent back.

‘All Racing Drivers should go on trips like this with their matches. See things and go places and drive all day. It is the best.’

‘It really is,’ AJ agreed. ‘What have you liked best so far?’ He asked, knowing it would take Tex hours to list all his favorite parts. He watched the light in Tex’s eyes, and held on.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

  
The company was waiting for them on the flats the next day.

AJ had arranged for them to bring two big V12 Lamborghini Countachs. One of them was redundant. Tex chose the silver one. The yellow sat unheeded.

[Before we go,] AJ told him. [I’m going to give you something for your cough.] He sat Tex down in the shadow of the car trailer the Lambos had arrived in. He swiped the inside of Tex’s left elbow with antiseptic, and stared for a long time, before he could bring himself to pick up the needle from the case the company men had brought for him.

The second needle sat unused. Like the second Lamborghini.

The poison from leaving the stable would make a very painful end. He couldn’t leave Tex to it’s mercies. This would induce sleep. Just sleep, that would get deeper, and deeper.

AJ licked his lips and smiled at Tex. ‘You will never know how much I love you,’ He told his other self.

‘Of course I do. I know your whole heart.’

Tex winced at the shot.

‘There. No more coughing, now.’ AJ put a bandaid on the place. A drop of blood showed through, but that was all. ‘Ready to drive?’

‘Yes! I love Lamborghinis. They are very feisty.’ He led AJ to the silver one and they strapped themselves in.

‘Use as much gas as you want, if you feel like you’re getting low, just come back here and the men will refill her for you. As many times as you want.’ AJ reached over and touched Tex’s arm.

‘Really?’

‘Oh yeah. I’m going to buy you all the gasoline you can burn, today.’

Tex cackled. He stepped on the gas.

Riding with his Racing Driver, playing with no limits was the best thing AJ had ever done. Again and again Tex returned to the truck for gasoline. Rick and then Annie took turns in the yellow Lamborghini, and they played chase and racing, until the two humans had been thoroughly bested, and they went back to wait in the shade.

Tex kept on.

'I feel tired,' Tex said, as the sun started to drop from it's highest point. He let the accelerator off and shifted down a few times then stopped the Lamborghini, barely in sight of the truck and trailer. [Maybe I will take a nap, then we can come back?]

He looked at AJ and scratched at the bandaid on his left arm. His eyelids were drooping. The moment the car stopped he had relaxed into the bucket seat. His muscles were going slack.

[You can take a nap, what if I drive and you ride for awhile, and you can listen to her, while you rest?]

[That sounds good,] Tex slurred.

AJ hurried around the side of the car and helped his Racecar Driver around to the passenger side. He fastened the harness, and Tex smiled at him weakly.

AJ got in the driver's seat and started the enormous engine again. He took Tex's hand. 'Warm sun on my skin, my body loves the light, your touch is the light for me. Inside my heart beats faster and I feel light in my heart. If there was no sun in the sky, I would trust you to bring me warmth and light. The sun doesn't matter, you matter to me.' He sent the feelings and emotions of Tex's favorite song.

'Are you singing me to sleep? Like you did after races when we were new?' He smiled.

'Yeah, like that.'

'I like that,' Tex told him.

'Me too.' He began again, 'If the sun was gone, and the world started turning to ice, I would stand beside you and the love you have for me, and mine for you, would drive back the ice with the fierceness of it's warmth. Your smile makes love spread from me and touch all the world.'

Tex's breathing was slowing down. He could barely keep his eyes open.

AJ's throat was tight. He didn't think he could keep sending without Tex picking up on his grief.

'You know the rest. I am your sunshine,' Tex murmured. 'I will sing it,' he offered. 'Everyone who sees me knows I have love, and can infer your existence. When you are away from me, my heart flutters and races at the thought of your return.'

His sending was so weak AJ could barely hear him.

'If I could open my whole soul to you, I would, I would show you love for a thousand seasons, and still have more to give and more to show.'

His voice got slower, and he trailed off.

AJ rubbed his thumb over the back of his partner's hand.

After a few moments, Tex exhaled, like a long sigh.

AJ gulped back a sob. The he started singing again. Tex didn't like it when AJ didn't finish the song. Since there was no one to hear him, he sang in words. "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you."

He couldn't fight back the sobs anymore, and the last line came out in a burble. "Please don't take my sunshine away?"

Part of him wanted to drive the car into the biggest cliff he could find. This was the middle of the Utah Flats, by the time he got to the hills, the handlers waiting at the truck would have cottoned to his plan and stopped him.

Out here, alone on the flat, he stopped the car. He unclipped his harness and leaned over to his partner. "My friend, my friend, my friend." He petted his hair and kissed his forehead. He had to say goodbye, now. When he got back, the handlers would come, and it would be the last time he ever saw the last thirty years of his life.

He parked the car beside the truck, and got out of the Driver's seat. He walked away from the Lamborghini without looking back. Rick and Annie put their arms around him, and they all walked back to the Mustang.

It was over. Time for whatever was next.


	8. Chapter 8- Epilogue

**Chapter 8- Epilogue**

  
The FIA kept trying to get him to come back to Training. He knew he wasn't ready, yet, it was still much too painful. In '96, Annie convinced him to go to a karting tournament with her in Europe. Not just a karting tournament. The public would see the human boys karting. Those in the know would see an exhibition of the colts those boys would match to, someday.

The reigning F1 world champ was there, and when AJ got a good look at Michael, up close and not on some fuzzy TV screen, they grinned at each other, each knowing the secret immediately. They shook hands.

Later, AJ found himself wandering to the back of the track, where there would be a locked door and a casual guard. A man dressed like a janitor who probably moonlighted as a double for Sylvester Stallone stepped forward and stopped him when he headed for the door labeled "Track personnel only."

His Trainers license didn't expire. Why would it? He would always know what he had learned. He pulled it out of his wallet and showed it to the man, who looked at him suspiciously but let him pass.

He could hear them the moment he opened the remarkably well soundproofed door. Little voices. He walked down the hallway into the open area where the colts were sitting around the stallion in the red jumpsuit. No need for handlers, not today, with a double world champion playing babysitter. Schumacher's Racing Driver had one of the little colts on his knee. AJ had seen the little German boy out on the track who would be his match one day, and the boy didn't bear the same resemblance to the man as the colt bore to the stallion.

Schumacher’s stallion looked even more like Tex than AJ could have imagined. He looked up when AJ came in, eyes dangerous for a moment, until he decided the man was no threat. He went back to gesturing to the little Racing Driver.

'Inside my heart beats faster and I feel light in my heart. If there was no sun in the sky, I would trust you to bring me warmth and light. The sun doesn't matter, you matter to me.'

Tex’s song.

His heart caught in his throat.

Tex’s son, singing his song to a colt that was clearly his son.

He knew now it would never be long enough.

He backed out of the room, and walked out of the building. He knew, now, that no matter how he contributed to racing after this, he would never go back to Training.

He couldn’t face generations of Tex’s family. Living and dying.

Like Tex had.

**Author's Note:**

> Real People don't belong to me.
> 
> This story is fiction and is no reflection on anyone in it. The story does belong to me, as does the AU in which it is set.


End file.
